Experts recommend temperatures between 16-19 ° degrees, depending on personal preference. Here you can read how the optimal temperature affects your sleep.
The bedroom temperature has a huge impact on your sleep.
In order for your body and mind to regenerate during sleep, they both need a certain amount of sleep as well as an ideal room temperature, which is crucial for a restful night’s sleep .
Find out in this article how the right temperature can improve your sleep, practical tips and what experts recommend for your healthy sleep.
Before I go into more detail about the optimal room temperature, I would like to briefly explain why cold and heat affect our sleep in the first place.
Index
What actually happens in your body while you sleep?
While you sleep, your body relaxes by limiting itself to its essential functions.
Your body temperature drops and the functions of the organs slow down. Regeneration begins during sleep, your hard drive (i.e. your brain) is cleaned up: information that you no longer need is deleted.
In short: your immune system gathers strength for the new day.
Is there an optimal bedroom temperature?
Everyone has their own comfortable temperature, especially in the bedroom. Depending on how cold you feel, some may want to be comfortably warm, while others prefer to shiver under the covers.
However, there are a few rules for getting a good night’s sleep. It shouldn’t be too cold or too warm for your body.
So hot temperatures disturb sleep
You know it for sure: it is difficult to fall asleep on hot summer nights.
You toss around in bed umpteen times and yet your body just doesn’t want to rest.
And even during the night we usually do not recover as well. Night sweats and restless sleep are just a few of the signs that the bed temperature is too high.
The heat from sleeping can also have other health effects:
If your bedroom is too warm, this can put strain on your mouth and nasal mucous membranes and make your airways more vulnerable, which in the worst case can result in a cough.
The bedroom should be cool, but not too cold
Experts agree that cooler temperatures generally have a better effect on your sleep.
At cooler temperatures, the brain works harder to balance the temperature and is therefore supplied with more blood.
The optimal sleeping temperature at night is therefore between 16 ° and 19 ° Celsius.
Another advantage: When the bedroom temperature is below 19 ° Celsius, your body tries to maintain its temperature and burns a little more calories.
In this way, it also prevents the storage of fat and stimulates the breakdown of excess pounds, goodbye to bacon rolls!
- However, these figures are only a guide, because the optimal bedroom temperature depends, as I said, on your personal needs.
- Your feelings can also change over the years. Youngsters prefer to love it mostly cooler than older people.
Tip: At an advanced age, when the need for warmth increases, it can be around 20 ° C in the bedroom.
Tips for the perfect temperature when sleeping
Now that you know what the optimal temperature is, you may be wondering how to take care of that in your bedroom as well.
In this chapter I’ve collected a few simple tips to help you do this – from proper heating to dehumidifiers.
Correct ventilation
It is best to ventilate the room several times a day so that the old air is exchanged for new, fresh air. This applies to both summer and winter.
The “draft” is enough for 10 minutes to bring new oxygen into your bedroom. Ventilation also prevents the formation of mold.
However, it is better to close the window again after ventilation.
A tilted window carries the risk of drafts, which can trigger a cold or even a tense neck or shoulder pain in sensitive people after sleeping .
Tip for more relaxed sleep without neck problems: Orthopedic bolsters support the spine and prevent tension.
When ventilating, make sure that small children or infants are not in the room during the ventilation.
Also pay attention to the humidity in the bedroom
In addition to the temperature, the humidity is also important in order to ensure an optimal room climate in the bedroom . Because it also affects your sleep.
For an optimal indoor climate, the humidity should be between 50 and 60%.
If the air humidity is too high, not only is the regulation of body temperature disturbed, but condensation can also form on the walls of your bedroom.
The result is mold. Mold spores that get into the respiratory tract are harmful to health.
Tip: You can use a moisture meter, a so-called hygrometer, to take measurements .
You can lower the humidity with a small home remedy
To do this, set up small bowls that are filled with salt up to a height of four centimeters in the bedroom. The salt attracts the moisture and soaks it up.
If you notice that the humidity in your bedroom is constantly too high, you should consider purchasing a dehumidifier . A condenser dryer is best for your home.
Similar to a refrigerator, this works with a refrigerant that condenses moisture from the air and collects it in a container.
By the way: the more people there are in the bedroom, the higher the humidity. Keep this in mind when setting the ideal room temperature and humidity in your bedroom.
Tips for the optimal sleeping temperature in winter
Very few people know that sleeping in heated rooms is bad for their health.
Turn your heating down no later than the evening before you go to bed. Even if you like it a bit more cozy in winter, you should definitely avoid turning on the heating at night (this is the recommendation of sleep researchers).
Your health will thank you. It is better to ventilate regularly and sleep under a thick duvet! Another tip:
Control bedroom temperature with thermostats
Better to measure your bedroom temperature accurately instead of just heating based on the sensation of heat.
This saves you energy and heating costs. If you reduce the temperature in your home by just one degree, you will save around six percent on heating energy or around 50 euros in energy costs over the whole year.
Thermostats help you with the measurement
Most central heating systems have thermostatic heads that can be turned so that you can set and control your desired temperature yourself.
To do this, set the thermostat on your heating system to level two (approx. 16 ° C). The numbers 1-5 on the thermostat usually stand for the following room temperatures:
- Stoves 1: approx. 12 ° C
- Stoves 2: approx. 16 ° C
- Stoves 3: approx. 20 ° C
- Stoves 4: approx. 24 ° C
- Stoves 5: approx. 28 ° C
The intelligent thermostat
The latest generation of intelligent thermostats ( e.g. this model from tado ) adapts to the living habits of the residents and independently regulates the heat in the individual rooms.
They are programmable and controllable via your smartphone. According to manufacturers, you can reduce heating costs by up to 30 percent with computer-assisted thermostats.
Tips for the optimal sleeping temperature in summer
The right temperature in the bedroom works wonders, especially in summer.
At this time of year the bedroom has heated up so much during the day that you lie in a warm and stuffy room at night and no longer know what to do to finally fall asleep because you are only moving from one side to the other roll over.
In any case, sleep is out of the question.
You probably don’t have air conditioning and so you have to come up with something else to cool your bedroom down to an optimal room temperature.
It is better to keep your bedroom windows closed during the day at very high temperatures and only open them in the evening just before you go to sleep.
You can find more tips here: Sleep in the heat .
The optimal temperature for babies and toddlers
Many parents dress their children too warmly and at the same time ensure that the temperature is too high.
- Overheating is one of several risk factors for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
- A cooler temperature for sleeping is also better for babies and toddlers.
But be careful: If the bedroom is too cold on the other hand, the muscles can tense up.To control the room temperature, it is best to equip your baby bed with a membrane thermometer . You can stick this to the cot and easily control the temperature.
As a new parent, don’t worry if your baby has a cold nose or cold hands and feet. It is completely normal. Because babies still have poor blood circulation in the first few months.
Note: Always make sure that your child neither freezes nor sweats and it is better to leave blankets and pillows away.
There is a risk of suffocation here!
Closing word
The temperature in your bedroom is an important factor when it comes to your healthy sleep.
- It’s better to keep your bedroom too cool than too warm, experts agree.
- Cool temperatures not only stimulate the brain, but also the metabolism.
When the body temperature cools down, more hormones are passed through the body and it recovers better.
For more tips on what you can do in addition to the temperature in your bedroom to sleep even better, see the comprehensive bedroom section .
With this in mind, look forward to a restful night!
I created Sleep Knowledge to share my interests and experiences on healthy sleeping with others. On this page I am therefore dealing with interesting questions about the optimal night’s sleep & everything else that goes with it.
